Glory Seed Devotional, 2016.12.19

Christmas is not only about our celebrations of the birth of Jesus it is also about God coming to us with skin.

The timelessness and foreknowledge of God is very evident in the Christmas story because long before we were born God began the adoption process the night Jesus was born. “God decided in advance to adopt us into his own family by bringing us to himself through Jesus Christ. This is what he wanted to do, and it gave him great pleasure.” (Ephesians 1:5, NLT)

Journeying through life are children who have become victims of circumstances beyond their control and find themselves in the foster care system. They become children stripped of their dignity and stripped of a home and a family. They are forced to live lives of mistrust, of fear, and of hopelessness. Journeying through life are children hungering for love, for acceptance, for hope, for peace, and for adoption. The journey of adoption is the journey of a child, of perspective parents.

The journey of adoption is also our journey. Because of a little three letter word called sin we have been estranged from our Heavenly Father. As a result we journey through the dark side of human existence living a life of pain, hopelessness, and loneliness searching for the love of our Heavenly Father. Wandering aimlessly through life we find ourselves thrust into the foster care of pride, the foster care of possessions, the foster care of fame and fortune. But left in their wake deep inside we are still plagued by the hunger for our Heavenly Father and we find ourselves on the journey of adoption.

But our Heavenly Father has sent his Son Jesus to walk the dark side of human existence to light its path, to chase away our darkness, to give us release from our pain, to us bring hope, and give us a feeling of belonging. Wandering purposefully through life Jesus exposed the futility and powerlessness of pride, the futility and powerlessness of possessions, the futility and powerlessness of fame and fortune. Jesus came to take the role as our Advocate our Intercessor to our Heavenly Father.

The journey of adoption is a journey of Divine compassion, of Divine Love, and a journey of new beginnings. No longer will darkness haunt the adoptive child, nor will hopelessness and loneliness be his/her constant companion. As the Heavenly Probate Judge signs our adoption decree with the life of his Son we suddenly find ourselves surrounded by a loving family.

The adoptive child feels loved, feels the greatness of Jesus Christ pulsing in his/her life. The child walks up to the Heavenly Father and gives him the biggest hug ever. And tears of joy well up in the Father’s eyes.

“I pray that God, the source of hope, will fill you completely with joy and peace because you trust in him. Then you will overflow with confident hope through the power of the Holy Spirit.”**